who was the attorney general in the wilson administration

by Christelle Gerhold Published 3 years ago Updated 2 years ago 7 min read

Alexander Mitchell Palmer

Who was the Attorney General under Woodrow Wilson?

Aug 27, 2021 · Attorney General Wilson joins coalition seeking confirmation Biden Administration will faithfully defend federal immigration statute (COLUMBIA, S.C.) – Attorney General Alan Wilson joined a coalition of 20 attorneys general seeking to ensure that the Biden Administration will faithfully defend a long-standing federal immigration statute that prohibits illegal re-entry.

Who is the Attorney General of the US?

Alexander Mitchell Palmer (May 4, 1872 – May 11, 1936), was an American attorney and politician who served as the 50th United States attorney general from 1919 to 1921. He is best known for overseeing the Palmer Raids during the Red Scare of 1919–20.. He became a member of the Democratic Party and won election to the United States House of Representatives, serving …

Who was the Attorney General in 1919?

Aug 30, 2021 · Attorney General Wilson sues Biden Administration to stop enforcement of guidance that threatens women’s sports and student and employee privacy. Lawsuit defends states from federal regulatory overreach and the unlawful interpretation of antidiscrimination laws. (COLUMBIA, S.C.) - Attorney General Alan Wilson, along with 19 other states led by …

Who was President Woodrow Wilson's Secretary of the Treasury?

May 20, 2021 · (COLUMBIA, S.C.) - May 20, 2021 - Attorney General Alan Wilson is joining a multistate coalition of 20 attorneys general in urging the Biden administration to reconsider educational proposals aimed at imposing the teaching of critical race theory (CRT), the 1619 Project, and other similar curriculum into America’s classrooms. Such goals are woven into a …

Who was Woodrow Wilson attorney general?

Palmer became attorney general under President Woodrow Wilson in 1919.

Who was a Mitchell Palmer and what did he do?

Alexander Mitchell Palmer (1872–1936), a lawyer, politician, and attorney general of the United States after World War I, is remembered for directing the notorious “Palmer raids,” a series of mass roundups and arrests by federal agents of radicals and political dissenters suspected of subversion.

What was the name of Wilson's administration?

In 1913, Woodrow Wilson signed the Federal Reserve Act, which created the Federal Reserve System of banking. He also passed antitrust legislation (including the Clayton Antitrust Act), lowered tariffs, and created a federal income tax.

Who was Woodrow Wilson secretary of state?

President Woodrow Wilson appointed Bainbridge Colby as his third Secretary of State on March 23, 1920. He was confirmed by the Senate and entered into duty the same day. Colby served until the end of the Wilson administration, leaving office on March 4, 1921.

Who is the attorney general that went after the communist socialist and anarchist groups?

The raids and arrests occurred under the leadership of Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer, with 3,000 arrested.

What did Attorney General A Mitchell Palmer believe that he needed to protect the American people from?

Palmer believed that communism was “eating its way into the homes of the American workman.” Palmer charged in this 1920 essay that communism was an imminent threat and explained why Bolsheviks had to be deported.

What party did President Wilson belong to?

Democratic PartyWoodrow Wilson / PartyA member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of Princeton University and as the governor of New Jersey before winning the 1912 presidential election. As President, Wilson changed the nation's economic policies and led the United States into World War I in 1917.

Who is considered the best president in history?

Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and George Washington are most often listed as the three highest-rated presidents among historians.

Who was our 44th president of the United States?

Barack ObamaOfficial portrait, 201244th President of the United StatesIn office January 20, 2009 – January 20, 2017Vice PresidentJoe Biden27 more rows

Who was in President Wilson's Cabinet?

Woodrow Wilson - AdministrationFirst LadyEdith WilsonSecretary of the TreasuryCarter Glass (1918–1920)Secretary of the TreasuryDavid Franklin Houston (1920–1921)Secretary of LaborWilliam B. Wilson (1913–1921)Secretary of CommerceWilliam C. Redfield (1913–1919)18 more rows

What was Harding's Cabinet?

CabinetThe Harding CabinetOfficeNameTermVice PresidentCalvin Coolidge1921–1923Secretary of StateCharles Evans Hughes1921–1923Secretary of the TreasuryAndrew Mellon1921–192327 more rows

Was Wilson a good president?

No other president who accomplished so much has so few latter-day admirers. He established the Federal Reserve, signed a major antitrust law, initiated the modern income tax and led the nation to victory in World War I.Jun 22, 2018

What party was Palmer in?

He became a member of the Democratic Party and won election to the United States House of Representatives, serving from 1909 to 1915. During World War I, he served as Alien Property Custodian, taking charge of the seizure of enemy property. Palmer became attorney general under President Woodrow Wilson in 1919.

When was Palmer elected?

U.S. House of Representatives. Palmer was elected as a Democrat to the 61st, 62nd, and 63rd Congresses and served from March 4, 1909, to March 3, 1915.

Who was the attorney general of the United States in 1919?

Education. Swarthmore College ( BA) Alexander Mitchell Palmer (May 4, 1872 – May 11, 1936), was an American attorney and politician who served as the 50th United States attorney general from 1919 to 1921. He is best known for overseeing the Palmer Raids during the Red Scare of 1919–20 . He became a member of the Democratic Party ...

Was Palmer a labor leader?

His potential rivals for the presidency in 1920 were not inactive. In September and October 1919, General Leonard Wood led U.S. military forces against striking steel workers in Gary, Indiana. Employers claimed the strikers had revolutionary objectives and military intelligence seconded those charges, so Wood added acclaim as an anti-labor and anti-radical champion to his reputation as a military hero, critic of Wilson, and leading candidate for the Republican nomination for President in 1920.

What was the GID in 1919?

Within Palmer's Justice Department, the General Intelligence Division (GID), headed by J. Edgar Hoover, had become a storehouse of information about radicals in America. It had infiltrated many organizations and, following the raids of November 1919 and January 1920, it had interrogated thousands of those arrested and read through boxes of publications and records seized. Though agents in the GID knew there was a gap between what the radicals promised in their rhetoric and what they were capable of accomplishing, they nevertheless told Palmer they had evidence of plans for an attempted overthrow of the U.S. government on May Day 1920.

Who was Palmer's wife?

Widowed when his wife Roberta Dixon died on January 4, 1922, he married Margaret Fallon Burrall in 1923.

Why did Wilson oppose women's suffrage?

Wilson privately opposed women's suffrage as late as 1911 because he felt women lacked the public experience needed to be good voters. Looking at the actual evidence of how women voters behaved in the western states changed his mind, and he came to feel they could indeed be good voters. He did not speak publicly on the issue except to echo the Democratic Party position that suffrage was a state matter, primarily because of strong opposition in the white South to Black voting rights.

What was the purpose of the espionage act?

In his 1915 State of the Union, Wilson asked Congress for what became the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918, suppressing anti-draft activists. The crackdown was later intensified by Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer to include expulsion of non-citizen radicals during the First Red Scare of 1919–1920.

How long did Woodrow Wilson serve as president?

t. e. Woodrow Wilson 's tenure as the 28th president of the United States, lasted from March 4, 1913, until March 4, 1921. Wilson, a Democrat who previously served as the governor of New Jersey, became president after winning the 1912 election, gaining a large majority in the Electoral College and a 42% plurality of the popular vote in ...

Who was the governor of New Jersey in 1912?

Presidential election of 1912. Main article: 1912 United States presidential election. Wilson became a prominent 1912 presidential contender immediately upon his election as Governor of New Jersey in 1910, and his clashes with state party bosses enhanced his reputation with the rising Progressive movement.

What did Wilson believe about the press?

Wilson fervently believed that public opinion ought to shape national policy, albeit with a few exceptions involving delicate diplomacy, and he paid close attention to newspapers. Press secretary Joseph Patrick Tumulty proved generally effective, until Wilson's second wife began to distrust him and reduced his influence. Wilson pioneered twice-weekly press conferences in the White House. They were modestly effective, though the president prohibited his being quoted and often made purposely vague statements. The first such press conference was held on March 15, 1913, when reporters were allowed to ask him questions.

How many electoral votes did Wilson get?

Wilson won 435 of the 531 electoral votes and 41.8% of the popular vote, while Roosevelt won most of the remaining electoral votes and 27.4% of the popular vote, representing one of the strongest third party performances in U.S. history.

Who was the first Jew appointed to the Supreme Court?

He appointed James Clark McReynolds in 1914; he was an arch-conservative who served until 1941. Wilson wanted to appoint Louis Brandeis to the cabinet in 1913, but he was too controversial then and instead served privately as Wilson's chief legal advisor. In 1916, Wilson nominated Brandeis to the Court, setting off a major debate over Brandeis 's progressive ideology and his religion; Brandeis was the first Jew named to the Supreme Court and anti-semitism was rampant in upper class circles. But Brandeis had many friends who admired his legal acumen in fighting for progressive causes. They mounted a national publicity campaign that marginalized anti-semitic slurs in the legal profession. Wilson worked hard and convinced Senate Democrats to vote for Brandeis, who served as an arch-liberal until 1939. In 1916 Wilson appointed John Hessin Clarke, a progressive lawyer who resigned in 1922 after bitter disputes with McReynolds.

What is the job of the Attorney General?

The attorney general serves as the principal advisor to the president of the United Stateson all legal matters. The attorney general is a statutory member of the Cabinet of the United States.

Is "general" a noun?

The title "attorney general" is an example of a noun (attorney) followed by a postpositive adjective(general).[8]". General" is a description of the type of attorney, not a title or rank in itself (as it would be in the military).[8]

Overview

Personnel and appointments

After the election, Wilson quickly chose William Jennings Bryan as Secretary of State, and Bryan offered advice on the remaining members of Wilson's cabinet. William Gibbs McAdoo, a prominent Wilson supporter who married Wilson's daughter in 1914, became Secretary of the Treasury, while James Clark McReynolds, who had successfully prosecuted prominent anti-trust cases, wa…

Presidential election of 1912

Wilson became a prominent 1912 presidential contender immediately upon his election as Governor of New Jersey in 1910. Already famous as president of Princeton and as a leading intellectual, his political stature soared after he defeated the state's political bosses and emerged as a national leader of the Progressive movement to reform America. Prior to the 1912 Democratic Nation…

Domestic policy

With the support of the Democratic Congress, Wilson introduced a comprehensive program of domestic legislation at the outset of his administration, something no president had ever done before. The Democrats had four major priorities: the conservation of natural resources, banking reform, tariffreduction, and equal access to raw materials, which was accomplished i…

Foreign policy

Wilson had not traveled much abroad, but he was a deep student of British political and constitutional history, and was well read in European history. Contacts with Presbyterian missionaries over the years brought him much detailed localized information about conditions in China and other missionary locales.

Incapacity, 1919–1921

On October 2, 1919, Wilson suffered a serious stroke, leaving him paralyzed on his left side, and with only partial vision in the right eye. He was confined to bed for weeks and sequestered from everyone except his wife and physician, Dr. Cary Grayson. Doctor Bert E. Park, a neurosurgeon who examined Wilson's medical records after his death, writes that Wilson's illness affected his personality in various ways, making him prone to "disorders of emotion, impaired impulse contro…

Elections during the Wilson presidency

In Wilson's first mid-term elections, Republicans picked up sixty seats in the House, but failed to re-take the chamber. In the first Senate elections since the passage of the Seventeenth Amendment, Democrats retained their Senate majority. Roosevelt's Bull Moose Party, which had won a handful of Congressional seats in the 1912 election, fared poorly, while conservative Rep…

Historical reputation

Wilson is generally ranked by historians and political scientists as one of the better presidents. A 2018 poll of the American Political Science Association's Presidents and Executive Politics section ranked Wilson as the 10th best president. A 2017 C-Span poll of historians ranked Wilson as the 11th best president. However, a 2006 poll of historians ranked Wilson's unwillingness to compromise on the Treaty of Versailles as the fourth-worst mistake made by a sitting president.